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Jack Andrew Leaning

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NAME: Jack Andrew Leaning DOB: October 18, 1993, BristolROLE: Right-handed bat, Off-spinnerDID YOU KNOW?: The son of former pro goalkeeper Andy, Jack was on the books at Sheffield United as a youngster.

Jack Leaning only made his first-team debut for Yorkshire in 2012, but he is already a two-time County Championship winner following a memorable couple of years in 2014 and 2015.

Leaning may have been born in Bristol, but he developed his game in York before progressing through to a 40-over debut against Warwickshire at Scarborough in August 2012.

In 2013, he also made his County Championship and Twenty20 debuts before counting 2014 as his breakthrough year, which included a Championship title and a maiden first-team hundred in a Royal London one-day Cup match against Essex at Scarborough in August.

He posted a record score for a Yorkshire Under 14 with an unbeaten 164 in 2008, beating previous records set by the likes of John Sadler, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Gale.

Leaning can be an eye-catching stroke maker or a player happy to dig in and is currently happier with his limited overs development. A part-time off-spinner, he has also played for England Under 19s. His home club is York.

Leaning played age-group cricket for Yorkshire up to Under 17s before debuting for the Academy side in 2010, scoring 781 runs for them the following summer and making his second-team debut.

Later in the 2011 campaign, he scored a superb 150 not out for the Yorkshire seconds in the final Championship match of the season against Worcestershire at New Road in August batting at number three.

Having been on an England Under 19s training camp in South Africa, which ended up being a Team England camp where he faced the likes of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graham Onions and Chris Tremlett, he toured Bangladesh in January 2012.

That summer saw him debut in Yorkshire’s first team and win the Academy’s Player of the Year award.

In 2013, after training in Sri Lanka under the guidance of Paul Farbrace and Sri Lanka legends Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena, he debuted in a Championship match against Surrey at Emerald Headingley and then in the Twenty20 competition.

His best performances in first-team colours came against the Unicorns and Somerset in 40-over cricket in the space of three days in mid-August. He took 5-22 with his off-spin in the former and hit 60 in the latter.

In the build-up to 2014, Leaning, a player with the ability to clear the ropes from ball one against the white ball, spent time playing grade cricket in Sydney with the Sutherland club, where his then Yorkshire team-mate Phil Jaques played. It set him up perfectly for a fine campaign with the White Rose.

He took advantage of some international absentees to play 10 Championship matches and cement his place, scoring 465 runs with four fifties, including a best of 99 against Sussex at Arundel. His standout knock of the summer, however, came in 50-over cricket when he hit 111 not out off 99 balls in defeat against Essex.

In 2015, Leaning’s haul of 922 Championship runs from 15 matches included three hundreds and as many fifties, with his trio of tons coming in the first half of the campaign. He was also a limited overs regular and was rewarded at the end of the campaign with the Yorkshire Young Player of the Year award and a similar honour from the Cricket Writers’ Club.

2016 did not quite go as smoothly, with his Championship appearances limited, but he did impress in 50-over and Twenty20 cricket, most notably with an unbeaten 131 in a Royal London win over Leicestershire at Grace Road.

2017 took a similar route, although he did score a fine 118 in a Roses draw at Emirates Old Trafford in May before hitting back-to-back Championship fifties in August against champions Essex and Middlesex.

In 2018, he hit two half-centuries in eight Championship appearances, helping to secure a pink ball draw away at Hampshire in June with a determined final day unbeaten 54. Approximately a week earlier, he had scored 57 in a 50-over win at Essex as the Vikings reached the semi-finals of the one-day Cup.

He finished the second-team season with back-to-back hundreds in three-day matches against Surrey and Durham, while scoring 723 runs in 14 appearances at 72.30 for York as they retained their Yorkshire Premier League North title.